I think I might've found a sedan company that has car seats. The one I've used in the past seems to have declined in recent years and maybe gone out of business, so I guess I'll be trying a new one anyway.

It's probably a decent idea to buy one to keep in Chicago anyway for future trips, but...feh. I could probably find a friend of a friend who had one to part with, but with the timing I'd need my parents to go pick it up probably, and they would just get annoyed at that. My parents are good people, and will take good care of V next week, but without armchair diagnosing them I will say I am concerned about their increasing-over-the-years unwillingness to leave their comfort zone/suburban enclave.

Joined: Fri Apr 01, 2011 11:51 amPosts: 8120Location: United States of New England

i need some recs for a second car seat. we currently have a graco snugride 30 that is good up to 30 lbs or 30 in and it has worked really really well for us. you just clip it right into the base in the car. easy peasy. the car seat itself is heavy as fork but im guessing thats all carseats.BP will be outgrowing it lengthwise in the coming months. she's over 27" now i think. she seems to only grow upwards ;-)

we were thinking about a convertible car seat. do people have those and like them?my own personal opinion is BP may have to be rear facing until she's like 42 because she's small. i mean she will be like half the weight requirement for our current car seat when you outgrows it lengthwise :-P

it looks like some of the convertible car seats dont have a base and some do. some you need to just keep in your car?im guessing once she starts walking this will be easier anyways.

thoughts? recommendations?

i really liked our snugride and im happy we got to use it for a long time.

I'm pretty sure you keep all the convertible seats in the car, they're freaking huge. They don't have bases. All the ones sold now will clip onto the anchors in your seats, which exist for that purpose. If your car is old enough to not have anchors, you attach them with the seatbelt.

We've had a convertible seat since birth because our friend gave us her old one. That's what "convertible" means, right, from newborn to toddler? It does not have a base or come out of the car for carrying around. We have never had any problem just picking her up if she's sleeping, but I guess we don't drive much so maybe we have different needs than some people. It can easily be rear or forward facing. Our friend also gave us this awesome wheel thing that you can attach for rolling around the airport and we've used that several times.

Joined: Fri Apr 01, 2011 11:51 amPosts: 8120Location: United States of New England

i think convertible means that it can go from rear facing to forward facing.

i hadnt thought about the sleeping thing. hmmm.....babypunk is such a bad sleeper that it's always a grand thing when she falls asleep in her carseat. but like Ariann said i think they are all pretty huge.

I've used two Graco convertibles for my kids, my youngest is still using one. I love them because I had to shop for them only once and don't have to replace them since they're good from birth until they're ready for a booster seat. When my youngest (he's 2 and a half now) falls asleep in the car and I want him to sleep a bit longer after we've arrived I just sit in the car and play with my phone until it's time to wake him up.

I never wanted to have a car seat you have to take out all the time, I see people struggling with those all the time they're still freaking heavy, I never understood the attraction.

When my kids were really young and fell asleep in there when I had to take them out I just transferred them to the sling I was wearing, so they were always happy then.

We have a Britax Marathon that I think is great! It is really easy to install and adjust the straps etc. We have a britax roudabout as well that I DO NOT LIKE because it was not easy to install and has to basically be uninstalled to adjust the straps or take off the cover for a washing...I have heard good things about the new Graco seats so I might get that for the new baby when he outgrows the bucket we have from when Giles was a baby. I was a fan of the moveable bucket because we could pop it onto our stroller frame for a walk or lull the baby to sleep in the car and then carry the bucket into a restaurant with a nice sleeping baby and enjoy a good meal.

Joined: Fri Apr 01, 2011 11:51 amPosts: 8120Location: United States of New England

thanks for the info on the two specific models annasrobbie. im gonna start looking at amazon today and i think i need to make a trip to Babies R Us for a shower present anyways so ill take a look there too. ive been really happy with our Graco and i hear a lot of people say good things about Britax. my husband wants to get a Recaro (spelling?) because they also make racing seats (like for adults who race not babies) but he also claims it has really good reviews :-P

i will totally be the one getting nap trapped too. BP is NOT transferrable when asleep. especially if it's me doing the transferring. my husband has successfully transferred her off himself and into a crib but not me. in fact she still sleeps in the bed with us which is fine EXCEPT she literally has to still be on top of me or DIRECTLY NEXT to me and god forbid i try to move like my arm to try and get a little more comfortable she wakes up if i move an inch and starts crying and the whole process starts over.

seriously that cant be normal at 10 months?!?!?!?!?!?!? oy vey.sorry not trying to derail ;-)

I kind of like that L isn't transferable - I let her sleep for about 45 mins (the sleep cycle that DEG clued us in on) and then I wake her up by transferring her. Because otherwise I'll be putting her to bed at 1 am and tearing my hair out.

Are you in any car seat groups on FB? We have the Britax Advocate but after reading about the Dino Radian, I kind of wish we'd gotten that one. The group I am in is an amazing resource, and they'll share coupons and other deals - I can add you if you want!

_________________My oven is bigger on the inside, and it produces lots of wibbly wobbly, cake wakey... stuff. - The PoopieB.

thanks for the info on the two specific models annasrobbie. im gonna start looking at amazon today and i think i need to make a trip to Babies R Us for a shower present anyways so ill take a look there too. ive been really happy with our Graco and i hear a lot of people say good things about Britax. my husband wants to get a Recaro (spelling?) because they also make racing seats (like for adults who race not babies) but he also claims it has really good reviews :-P

i will totally be the one getting nap trapped too. BP is NOT transferrable when asleep. especially if it's me doing the transferring. my husband has successfully transferred her off himself and into a crib but not me. in fact she still sleeps in the bed with us which is fine EXCEPT she literally has to still be on top of me or DIRECTLY NEXT to me and god forbid i try to move like my arm to try and get a little more comfortable she wakes up if i move an inch and starts crying and the whole process starts over.

seriously that cant be normal at 10 months?!?!?!?!?!?!? oy vey.sorry not trying to derail ;-)

she definitely wont be transferrable from a car seat ;-)

About the co-sleeping. I might say something now that you wouldn't want to hear. But we're co-sleeping with our little boy of 2 1/2 and I'm not getting good nights, he sleeps next to me and when I move just an arm he wakes up. Lately he's been teething as well, so he doesn't go to sleep so easily after this either. What I've learned is that you have to get lucky to get a kid who sleeps well and I know I'm not lucky in that respect. I used to think my daughter was a bad sleeper, but she's not looking that bad now in retrospect ;). It doesn't last forever though. In a few years you'll forget all about it.

For big-ticket items, we at least start (and sometimes finish) shopping by looking at Consumer Reports.

Great tip on car seats when renting a car: If you are a AAA member, Hertz will provide an infant or child seat (didn't ask about boosters) at no cost, vs $10-$15 per day for other companies. (Some cap total cost per rental, e.g. $65.) I've never found Hertz to be cheapest in any general search, but when I called w/AAA, it was much cheaper when the car seat price was factored into the comparisons. One time the Hertz+AAA price was lower than other companies without the car seat.

Not exactly sure who's question I might be answering in this thread, but we have Diono Radian RXT carseats for both of our children and absolutely love them (the children AND the carseats). The seats are the most compact on the market, while not sacrificing any of the structural integrity and safety found in other highly-rated seats. While the Diono seats are quite compact, they are much heavier that some other carseats we've used, such as some Britax models, due to their steel-reinforced frames. Both my wife and I drive fairly compact cars (VW GTI and VW Jetta Sportwagen respectively), so there's just not enough room for the bulkier Britax seats. You can easily fit three Diono seats across if you need to, but with one in the center and one on the side, we can still squeeze in another adult (*ahem* grandma) in the back when necessary. The seats are also super easy to install and fold up if you do want to take them with you when you travel - though once again they are quite heavy and I have yet to find a truly great car seat carrier (roller or shoulder bag) for air travel.

We currently have a free carseat we got through a trust in my area that gives them away for all new babies, but it's one that would have to go forward facing around 2 years. That, combined with the fact that we are hoping to have another baby at some point and they only give one free one per family means I've been looking at options and everyone I have heard from recommends the Radian RXT here, too.

LisaPunk wrote:

it looks like some of the convertible car seats dont have a base and some do. some you need to just keep in your car?im guessing once she starts walking this will be easier anyways.

We've never had a carseat with a base, used a borrowed baby capsule [pleased to see Annasrobbie calling it a bucket, that's what I always called it too!] for when she was up to about 3 months old, but I think I only took it out of the car maybe once or twice. You definitely wouldn't take a proper carseat out of the car, other than to transfer between cars, I guess.

Anyone have a recommendation for a booster seat? Alice is going to need to move out of her infant seat soon and instead of getting another Britax Marathon we thought we can let Alice use Ada's and get a booster seat for Ada. She's 40 lb and I believe 42.5 inches so she's definitely big enough for one. Is there a reason we should hold off on switching her to a booster seat? The only thing I can think of is maybe it's not as comfortable.

We still mostly use the Britax Advocate for Vi, but I've been pretty happy with the Diono Radian R100 in the mini. We originally got it for flying, as it's one of the lighter/narrower/more portable seats you can use on a plane. Now it works well in the mini because it's narrow enough and doesn't have a lot of bulky side stuff making it hard to buckle her in. It does seem to *look* less protective than the Britax, but I'm not sure how much the side wings really help in a crash.

Thanks annak! I remember you recommending that at some point. We are going away on Friday (to San Diego actually) and Ada is too tall for the car rental car seats now but I don't know that I feel comfortable with her in a booster. So maybe we'll look into the Diono to bring with us for Ada.

In case you haven't reserved a rental car yet, I think it was the SD airport Enterprise we used once that had a HUGE selection of car seats when my husband went to pick up a car there. So I bet they'd have something, especially if you said you were bringing a three year old.

Enjoy San Diego!! If you need kid-friendly places to eat, there's a new Native Foods location in Point Loma that is close to the airport.. And Rancho's in North Park was always super nice to Vi. Veggie Grill also opened there recently (I used to go to UTC but I think they opened one in Carlsbad recently, so if you go to Legoland, which I would highly recommend for little kids if you're looking for zoo/seaworld alternatives, two good places for food are the Encinitas Native Foods and Veggie Grill if the Carlsbad one ever opened!).

I think I had all of those places on my list except for the soft serve. Good to know! We're staying in Ocean Beach about a block or two from the food coop so I have a feeling we'll be grabbing food from there a lot. We're trying to figure out where to move next summer and SD is on the top of the list so we'll be doing a lot of checking out different neighborhoods.

You'll be right by Stephanie's Bakery then, if you can catch them when they're open. They move at the speed of hippie but make great sandwiches. ;) B used to love the fake chicken salad from the co-op. I think OB also has a Rancho's, but I haven't been to that location for a good 5-6 years, so I wouldn't stake my life on it still being open.

Move to SD!! There's a good chance we'll be back there in 2-3 years so I am all for this option. ;) We just moved from Normal Heights and really liked it. My husband works on the tip of Point Loma when we're there, but we like a little more space and a neighborhood that's a little less…strip mall-y and a little more diverse. So Normal Heights and North Park, where we lived before having kids, both suited us very well. That whole area would be my recommendation - North Park, Hillcrest, Mission Hills, Banker's Hill, South Park, University Heights, Normal Heights, Kensington…it sort of depends on how much space you need and how much you're willing to spend.

If you want a babysitter for a night out, let me know and I can see if I can share the info for my sitter there, who was great with Vi. A few years back I would've suggested Spread for a fancy kid-free meal, but now I'm a little more reserved in recommending them because honestly I think the place has gone downhill a little (sad since it was my absolute favorite place to eat before!).

ETA: Just had the thought that if you moved out there you'd probably want places with good schools, in which case Poway seems to be the universal recommendation..though I know people who've lived in the Scripp's Ranch area, down by Eastlake/Chula Vista, and out in El Cajon. These are all suburbs, but honestly if you're living SD because of the way the property taxes/funding works, you have to go out to newer construction and suburbs to find decent schools. There are private options, though, if you're willing to consider that. If you get to a point where you're considering buying or renting in a certain neighborhood, let me know and I can probably hook you up with people who've had kids in the schools there.

further hijacking this thread to talk about SD for a minute - I love San Diego. My sister lives out there (in Normal Heights too!) and we freaking love to visit...honestly it would be a great place to move to for us but we can't handle all that sunshine (haha I know, I sound like a freak, but it's true! just not fans) It's a really beautiful, diverse place and lots of vegan-friendly food. Confession: we never made it to Veggie Grill because we were too busy freaking out about Native Foods and eating there like 3 times.

hope you have a great trip Sashi! and I hear you on the booster seat thing - Dahlia is surely big enough to be outta her Britax Roundabout and sometimes I really want to switch to a booster where she can actually help out a little with the straps/clasps, but I've always thought the real carseat was probably safest (as long as she isn't far over the height/weight limits, and I think we're ok on that because she's still a teeny bit lighter than 40lbs.)

Annak, I'll probably pm you when I get a chance so I don't further hijack this thread ;-)

Audrey, I had to laugh at the too much sun thing but I get it!

We called a couple of car rental places and they all seem to have the same seats. Infant seats going to 20 lb (Alice is 21 lb) and then forward facing toddler seats which we don't want to use for her yet. And then the toddler seats are too small for Ada and we don't want to use a booster for her yet. So both carseats will be coming with us!